Show HN: Burn the Boats – A free goal-setting platform based on research
burntheboats.org
burntheboats.org
Burn The Boats is a free service that lets you create irrevocable social pre-commitments. After committing to a goal on the site and providing your friends' email addresses, Burn The Boats will email them on your deadline. The only way to stop that email is to pay a cancellation fee, whose amount you choose when you set your goal.
Unlike other goal-setting platforms, Burn The Boats doesn't email your friends right away and encourages you to keep your goal to yourself. This is because research shows that sharing your goal can make you less likely to achieve it (which was the topic of one of Derek Sivers' Ted Talks [1]). By only divulging your goal to your friends on the due date, Burn The Boats gives you the benefits of social accountability without the motivation-sapping effects of sharing your goal immediately.
I'd appreciate your feedback on any aspect of the site (concept, design, copy, etc...). Thanks for reading!
Cheers! Bevan
ps. I've vlogged the process of building the app, which you can see here: https://burntheboats.org/story